News | Health


downsmail.co.uk Seven-day access toGPs onway


IMPROVED access to GP services should be available to all patients by October 1. This will include appointments


at evenings and weekends, bank holidays and across Easter, Christ- mas andNewYear – and “effective access to out-of-hours and urgent care services”. The changes followGovernment


pressure and additional funding and now have the backing of the budget-holding GP-led NHS West Clinical Commissioning Group, who have agreed a 12-month pilot scheme. The 60 general practices in West


Kent, serving 484,460 patients, are now grouped in seven clusters with elements of co-operative working. A survey in 2016 indicated 78%


of people in West Kent rated their overall experience of making ap- pointments as very or fairly good – a 2%decline on 2012. The extended access must be


well advertised to patients. Dr Bob Bowes, chairman ofWest


Big changes at


top for CCGs THE eight budget-holding, GP-led NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) across Kent and Medway have agreed to develop a strategic commissioning function. Dr Bob Bowes, chairman ofWest


Kent CCG, expects this to lead to healthimprovements andlonger life expectancy in parts ofWestKent by tackling health inequalities. Thekeyaims are:developingcom-


missioning proposals at a greater scale; building capacity and capabil- ity across the CCGs by shared effort and knowledge; and increasing effi- ciencies within commissioning through reduced duplication and sharedmanagement costs. Asingle seniormanagement team


has been established and the lead role (as accountable officer) is held by Glenn Douglas, former chief ex- ecutive ofMaidstone andTunbridge Wells hospital trust.


999 recovery


AFTER a long period of seriously missed targets the local ambulance service is improving. In May SECAmb missed the na-


tional standard for life-threatening calls (sevenminutes) by 37 seconds, better than the national average. Its response time to other emer-


gency calls (target 18 minutes) was 17.07 minutes, beating the national average, but targets for non-emer- gency calls are still beingmissed.


30 Malling September 2018


Kent CCG, told the Downs Mail: “Extra appointments will be avail- able fromOctober 1 to book in each of our seven cluster areas until 8pm Monday to Friday, with slots at weekends and bank holidays too. “These are expected to be espe-


cially helpful for working people, commuters, parents and others who cannot get to a GP practice


during normal hours (8am to 6pm Monday to Friday). “Nearer the time we will an-


nounce times and locations where the new appointments will be of- fered. “These pre-bookable appoint-


mentswill supplementwhat is cur- rently on offer. People who need an urgent GP appointment should


phone theirGP practice orNHS111 as now.” GP receptionists and administra-


tive staff across west Kent have also trained to become “care navi- gators” to help patients get the support they need, first time. Staffwill ask if they are happy to


be asked some simple questions to make sure they see the right person for their needs. If it turns out the patientwants to


lose weight, stop smoking, or start counselling, for instance, they will be given contact details for the service that can help them– saving their time and energy, and freeing up aGP appointmentwhich can be used by someone else. Other potential options for pa-


tients include pharmacists, support for people living with mental health problems, and support for older people or carers, as well as different members of the practice team.


Action to speed up X-ray results


ACTION is being taken to ensure a national set of standards is met in reviewing radiology examinations. It follows a review by the Care


Quality Commission (CQC) which exposed potential delays in x-ray results being shared with clinicians, or being examined by those with- out specialist training. The quality regulator is now call-


ing for national turnaround times and improvedmonitoring guidance for trusts to protect patients from the potential risk of delayed or missed diagnoses. Analysis of the data submitted by


a sample group of 30 trusts re- vealed that the trusts’ own timescales set for reporting radio- logical examinations referred from


emergency departments varied widely – from an hour at one trust, to twoworking days at another. For outpatient referrals, the expected timescales ranged fromfive days to 21 days. The CQC review also found some


trustswith a backlog of images and lengthy waiting times for patients awaiting their results. Those reporting significant back-


logs were required to explain what action they were taking to address this, and as at July 2018, all had cleared or significantly reduced their backlogs. Professor Ted Baker, the CQC’s


Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “While our review found some ex- amples of good practice it also re-


vealed a major disparity in timescales for interpreting and re- porting on examinations, meaning that some patients are waiting far longer than others for their results.” A spokesman for Maidstone and


TunbridgeWellsNHS Trust said: “All trustswere contacted in light of the issues raised, and we provided evi- dence and assurances that Maid- stone and Tunbridge Wells Trust was not at risk. “The CQC was satisfied with the


response we gave and we have noted the CQC’s subsequent report and the actions within it. “Radiology examinations are re-


ported in order of level of urgency and we always aim to provide the best possible service to patients.”


Hospital goes digital for records


MAIDSTONE Hospital will be switching to an all-electronic sys- tem of patient records next au- tumn. Maidstone and TunbridgeWells


NHS Trust says the roll-out of the Allscripts clinical software will prepare it for closer working with other trusts in Kent, and help it achieve its digital ambitions for the next 10 years. Chief executiveMiles Scott,who


took up the leadership of the trust in January, said: “My ambition for


the trust is to deliver outstanding staff and patient experience. Sun- risewill support that by giving cli- nicians the information they need to deliver excellent patient care. “At the same time, investment in


digital solutions will give us the datawe need to respond to the de- mand and financial pressures we are facing.” The EPR (electronic patient


records) will be rolled out in the autumn of 2019. JimMacDonald, chief clinical in-


formation officer, said clinicians had been fully involved in review- ing the system, and were im- pressed by theway it captured and displayed data. “At themoment, cliniciansmove


between paper and IT systems to find the information they need,” he said. “Having the right information,


in the right place, at the right time, will enable us to improve our working processes and patient care.”


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